This weekend marks the thirtieth (30th!) anniversary of the premiere ofCheers, which is still considered one of the best comedies of all time by people old enough to fairly make that judgment call. In tribute to the Boston-set, Emmy-winning sitcom, GQ provides an extensive oral history of the show in its October issue, during which the cast and creators recall everything from the way Shelley Long flashed Ted Danson during their first meeting, to the time the cast gave Kirstie Alley a shotgun, to the tear-jerker finale. Also discussed: the worst day of Ted Danson’s life, as told by Ted Danson.

__Danson:__I’ll tell you about the worst day of my life. Shelley [Long] and Rhea [Perlman] were carrying that week’s episode, and the guys were just, “Let’s play hooky.” We’d never done anything wrong before. John [Ratzenberger] had a boat, so we met at Marina del Rey at 8 a.m. We all called in sick, and [co-creator] Jimmy [Burrows] caught on and was so pissed. Woody [Harrelson] and I were already stoned, and Woody said, “You want to try some mushrooms?” I’d never had them, so I’m handed this bag and I took a fistful. On our way to Catalina, we hit the tail end of a hurricane, and even people who were sober were getting sick. Woody and I thought we were going to die for three hours. I sat next to George [Wendt], and every sixty seconds or so he’d poke me and go, “Breathe.” [gasp] And I’d come back to life.

In all fairness, Harrelson, who is 13 years younger than Danson, was concerned. “I was a little worried about him,” the actor recalls. “It looked like his face was melting.”